---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Opium makes you quick-witted - perhaps…"
description: "\"“Opium makes you quick-witted - perhaps only because it calms the nerves and stills the emotions. Nothing, not even death, seems so important.”\" — Grah..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b0/graham-greene-441_calms_opium-makes-you-quick-witted-perhaps-onl_3118059.jpg"
---

#  Opium makes you quick-witted - perhaps only because it…

![“Opium makes you quick-witted - perhaps only because it calms the nerves and stills the emotions. Nothing, not even death, seems so important.” quote by Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b0/graham-greene-441_calms_opium-makes-you-quick-witted-perhaps-onl_3118059.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b0/graham-greene-441_calms_opium-makes-you-quick-witted-perhaps-onl_3118059.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b0/graham-greene-441_calms_opium-makes-you-quick-witted-perhaps-onl_3118059.jpg)

> ““Opium makes you quick-witted - perhaps only because it calms the nerves and stills the emotions. Nothing, not even death, seems so important.””

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Opium sharpens wit by calming nerves and emotions, yet even death feels insignificant, highlighting a detached perspective.

**In simple terms:** Opium calms, making wit appear sharper, but death feels trivial.

Key Takeaway

Recognize how coping mechanisms affect perception of importance.

Themes

perception coping detachment

Mood

thoughtful critical

Type

philosophical literary

When to use this quote

- stress relief
- substance use
- existential reflection
- creative work

Key Concepts

philosophy psychology

Questions to Reflect On

- What do you consider truly important?
- Can calm replace genuine insight?

A Different Perspective

Reliance on substances can distort reality and diminish meaning.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Calms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calms/) [Calms Nerves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calms-nerves-754737/) [Death and dying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death-and-dying/) [Opium](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opium/) [Opium Makes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opium-makes-5204488/) [Witted Calms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/witted-calms-5464338/)

## Related quotes

> [It is not opium which makes me work but its absence, and in order for me to feel its absence it must from time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonin-artaud/it-is-not-opium-which-makes-me-work-but-its-absence-and-in-order-for/)

[Antonin Artaud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonin-artaud/)

> [The thing about opium is that it makes pain or difficulty unimaginable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastian-faulks/the-thing-about-opium-is-that-it-makes-pain-or-difficulty-unimaginable/)

[Sebastian Faulks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastian-faulks/)

> [Gospel music always relaxes me and calms my nerves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabby-douglas/gospel-music-always-relaxes-me-and-calms-my-nerves/)

[Gabby Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabby-douglas/)

> [I do a lot of yoga and meditation. It calms my nerves and helps me channelise my energy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vijender-singh/i-do-a-lot-of-yoga-and-meditation-it-calms-my-nerves-and-helps-me/)

[Vijender Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vijender-singh/)

> [I don't like money very much, but it calms my nerves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-louis/i-don-t-like-money-very-much-but-it-calms-my-nerves/)

[Joe Louis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-louis/)

> [Joe E. Lewis said, 'Money doesn't buy happiness but it calms the nerves.' And that is how I feel about a film being well-received.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-payne/joe-e-lewis-said-money-doesn-t-buy-happiness-but-it-calms-the-nerves/)

[Alexander Payne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-payne/)

> [The bigger the crowd the better really! The noise calms your nerves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niall-horan/the-bigger-the-crowd-the-better-really-the-noise-calms-your-nerves/)

[Niall Horan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niall-horan/)

> [I had to listen to the classical music because it calms me down, calms my nerves down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/novak-djokovic/i-had-to-listen-to-the-classical-music-because-it-calms-me-down-calms/)

[Novak Djokovic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/novak-djokovic/)

> [“We didn’t want to be reminded of how little we counted, how quickly, simply, and anonymously death came. Even though my reason wanted the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/we-didn-t-want-to-be-reminded-of-how-little-we-counted-how-quickly/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [I know this will blow your mind, but most people would probably never ever get it, but I listen to classical music when nobody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vanilla-ice/i-know-this-will-blow-your-mind-but-most-people-would-probably-never/)

[Vanilla Ice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vanilla-ice/)

> [Celestial wisdom calms the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/celestial-wisdom-calms-the-mind/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [Despair has its own calms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bram-stoker/despair-has-its-own-calms/)

[Bram Stoker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bram-stoker/)

> [“Music calms the soul and improves the plasticity, flexibility, and sensitivity of the perceptual world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debasish-mridha/music-calms-the-soul-and-improves-the-plasticity-flexibility-and/)

[Debasish Mridha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debasish-mridha/)

> [“A steady heart calms the storm in mind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toba-beta/a-steady-heart-calms-the-storm-in-mind/)

[Toba Beta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toba-beta/)

> [So mightiest powers buy deepest calms are fed, And sleep, how oft, in things that gentlest be!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-procter/so-mightiest-powers-buy-deepest-calms-are-fed-and-sleep-how-oft-in/)

[Bryan Procter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-procter/)

## More by Graham Greene

> [“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [“What is cowardice in the young is wisdom in the old, but all the same one can be ashamed of wisdom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/what-is-cowardice-in-the-young-is-wisdom-in-the-old-but-all-the-same/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [Pity is cruel. Pity destroys.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/pity-is-cruel-pity-destroys/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [Hate is a lack of imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/hate-is-a-lack-of-imagination/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim. It is, one is told, the unforgivable sin, but it is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/despair-is-the-price-one-pays-for-setting-oneself-an-impossible-aim/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [“Knowledge was the great thing--not abstract knowledge in which Dr. Forester had been so rich, the theories which lead one enticingly on with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/knowledge-was-the-great-thing-not-abstract-knowledge-in-which-dr/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [With Your great schemes, You ruin our happiness like a harvester ruins a mouse's nest: I hate You, God, I hate You as though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/with-your-great-schemes-you-ruin-our-happiness-like-a-harvester-ruins/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/heresy-is-only-another-word-for-freedom-of-thought/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [“He had thought that home was something one possessed, but the things one had possessed were cursed with change; it was what one didn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/he-had-thought-that-home-was-something-one-possessed-but-the-things/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [Perhaps the comparison is closer to the Chinese cook who leaves hardly any part of a duck unserved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/perhaps-the-comparison-is-closer-to-the-chinese-cook-who-leaves/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [“He said, ‘Oh god, help her. Damn me, I deserve it, but let her live forever.’ This was the love he should have felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/he-said-oh-god-help-her-damn-me-i-deserve-it-but-let-her-live-forever/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [“A police photograph is like a passport photograph: the intelligence which casts a veil over the crude common shape is never recorded by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/a-police-photograph-is-like-a-passport-photograph-the-intelligence/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [ “I tossed up whether I'd see \[the critic\] or not: I knew too well the pompous phrases of his article, the buried significance he… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-tossed-up-whether-i-d-see-the-critic-or-not-i-knew-too-well-the/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [Success is more dangerous than failure, the ripples break over a wider coastline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/success-is-more-dangerous-than-failure-the-ripples-break-over-a-wider/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [“But we do not love people for what they do for us. Love happens to us; it isn't created.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/but-we-do-not-love-people-for-what-they-do-for-us-love-happens-to-us/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

[Explore all 550 Graham Greene quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

## More Calms quotes

> [So mightiest powers buy deepest calms are fed, And sleep, how oft, in things that gentlest be!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-procter/so-mightiest-powers-buy-deepest-calms-are-fed-and-sleep-how-oft-in/)

[Bryan Procter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-procter/)

> [I know this will blow your mind, but most people would probably never ever get it, but I listen to classical music when nobody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vanilla-ice/i-know-this-will-blow-your-mind-but-most-people-would-probably-never/)

[Vanilla Ice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vanilla-ice/)

> [Despair has its own calms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bram-stoker/despair-has-its-own-calms/)

[Bram Stoker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bram-stoker/)

> [“Music calms the soul and improves the plasticity, flexibility, and sensitivity of the perceptual world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debasish-mridha/music-calms-the-soul-and-improves-the-plasticity-flexibility-and/)

[Debasish Mridha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debasish-mridha/)

> [“A steady heart calms the storm in mind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toba-beta/a-steady-heart-calms-the-storm-in-mind/)

[Toba Beta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toba-beta/)

> [Celestial wisdom calms the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/celestial-wisdom-calms-the-mind/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [Everything also calms down with the influx of social media, there's so much happening all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-walsh/everything-also-calms-down-with-the-influx-of-social-media-there-s-so/)

[Kate Walsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-walsh/)

> [I don't like money very much, but it calms my nerves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-louis/i-don-t-like-money-very-much-but-it-calms-my-nerves/)

[Joe Louis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-louis/)

> [Before a game, I prefer R&amp;B and stuff that calms me down, like the Weeknd.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blake-griffin/before-a-game-i-prefer-r-b-and-stuff-that-calms-me-down-like-the/)

[Blake Griffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blake-griffin/)

> [Sanity calms, but madness is more interesting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-russell/sanity-calms-but-madness-is-more-interesting/)

[John Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-russell/)

> [One often calms one's grief by recounting it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-corneille/one-often-calms-one-s-grief-by-recounting-it/)

[Pierre Corneille](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-corneille/)

> [Having fun with family, playing video games, and listening to music calms me down and gets me away from the NBA world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pascal-siakam/having-fun-with-family-playing-video-games-and-listening-to-music/)

[Pascal Siakam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pascal-siakam/)

> [Yoga calms me down. It gives me energy and focus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-aniston/yoga-calms-me-down-it-gives-me-energy-and-focus/)

[Jennifer Aniston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-aniston/)

> [Gospel music always relaxes me and calms my nerves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabby-douglas/gospel-music-always-relaxes-me-and-calms-my-nerves/)

[Gabby Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabby-douglas/)

> [Well, when I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holly-golightly/well-when-i-get-it-the-only-thing-that-does-any-good-is-to-jump-in-a/)

[Holly Golightly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/holly-golightly/)

[Browse all 45 Calms quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calms/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“Opium makes you quick-witted - perhaps only because it calms the nerves and stills the emotions. Nothing, not even death, seems so important.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Graham Greene"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/opium-makes-you-quick-witted-perhaps-only-because-it-calms-the-nerves/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Calms"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/opium-makes-you-quick-witted-perhaps-only-because-it-calms-the-nerves/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b0/graham-greene-441_calms_opium-makes-you-quick-witted-perhaps-onl_3118059.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b0/graham-greene-441_calms_opium-makes-you-quick-witted-perhaps-onl_3118059.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b0/graham-greene-441_calms_opium-makes-you-quick-witted-perhaps-onl_3118059.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Opium makes you quick-witted - perhaps only because it calms the nerves and stills the emotions. Nothing…” — Graham Greene",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Graham Greene",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“Opium makes you quick-witted - perhaps...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/opium-makes-you-quick-witted-perhaps-only-because-it-calms-the-nerves/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/opium-makes-you-quick-witted-perhaps-only-because-it-calms-the-nerves/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
